All Things Considered

Commonly referred to as "ATC" and a staple for afternoon commutes, NPR's nationally syndicated afternoon news magazine brings you closer to home with the presence of WAMU's local host.

Since May 3, 1971 All Things Considered has been produced every day from NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Featuring a mix of news, interviews, commentaries, reviews, and offbeat features, "ATC" produces 2 hours of fresh content every day for hundreds of public radio stations around the United States.

Elliott Francis

Local Host, All Things Considered

Francis has worked alongside some of the most influential media executives in the U.S. during his 25 years as a news anchor, including FOX News President and Chairman Roger Ailes, former CNN Executive Vice President Ed Turner, and the founder and former CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, John H. Johnson. In 2002, shortly after joining the ABC news affiliate in Washington DC (WJLA-TV) as the morning co-anchor, Francis was thrust into the rigors of live, non-stop coverage of the DC sniper shootings and investigation, sometimes speaking 8-9 hours unscripted. A skilled interviewer, Francis once convinced singer John Denver to go "on-camera" with details of his upcoming DUI trial.

In the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., shootings, many school districts have rethought their approach to keeping their students, staff and buildings safe. Those changes ran the gamut from adding door locks to arming teachers.

The New York City Opera, nicknamed the "people's opera" by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia when it was founded 70 years ago, has always been a low-cost alternative to the more upscale Metropolitan Opera. The company may have to cancel its upcoming season if fundraising falls short.

Adult film production in California is now suspended after a number of performers tested positive for HIV. Though news of the cases may leave some performers feeling vulnerable, the industry's trade group says its response shows that the system works.

A recent string of deaths in the Northeast from a drug known as Molly has authorities looking into whether a bad batch is to blame. Molly, a purified form of the drug known as Ecstasy, can be as easy to get — and as cheap — as a six-pack of beer.

Secretary of State John Kerry says there is one thing Bashar al-Assad's government can do to avoid a punitive U.S. air strike — turn over Syria's chemical weapons stockpile to international control. Russia's foreign minister picked up on the idea, perhaps calling Kerry's bluff, and made the proposal to Syria's foreign minister who happens to be visiting Moscow. Lavrov says he expects a positive response and soon.

As expected, the Kremlin-backed incumbent won Moscow's mayoral election, but the surprising thing was that he garnered barely enough votes to avoid a run-off election. The main opposition candidate, Alexei Navalny, walked away with at least 27 percent of the vote. His campaign strategists have said it would be a victory if he got more than 20 percent, because that would energize the opposition and show that Muscovites want a more democratic future.

The Pentagon has been focusing on the Syrian military's command-and-control sites, which remain the most likely focus of any U.S. strike. But military planners have begun to add new targets, such as mobile missile launchers, that could require more than cruise missiles — and make the mission more complicated.

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